gardening in France !!!!

[Phil.H]

I am wondering if i could carry on my trade as a gardener when i move to Normandie this Year.?

Indeed grass does stop growing in Winter, but i was hoping to carry on Cutting back,Pollarding ect.

Is there much work like this available in France ,or is it really a French pursuit ??

[Nick Trollope]

To me, it appears that there are many more Gardeners (professional) in France than there are in the UK. This suggests several things to me; a) That the French don't like gardening and prefer to pay someone else for it. b) The English immigrants don't like gardening and only employ English gardeners to do it for them. c) Gardens are alot bigger. d) The market for English gardeners is saturated.

As for if the grass grows (greener) all the year round in Normandy, I can't really tell - surely a gardener would know this. It doesn't in Brittany - our bit at least - it grows in Spring and Autumn and not in summer or winter. Unless it rains. Or is hot (in winter) or cold (in summer).

I am a registered "Artisan" here, and I can't understand how anyone can make a living from gardening - legally at least!

Do plenty of research and be prepared to find an alternative income.

[Ty Korrigan]

Hello there...

 I am a registered Entretien Espaces Verts which is one of the two types of 'Gardener' here. I look after green spaces... The other sort is a 'Paysagiste' a Landscape gardener. I mow grass and keep peoples grounds up together. A little fencing plenty of pruning and sweeping leaves. Most of my gardens are larger than many in the U.K but as yet I have no really large properties to care for.

 A stumbling block for me, is that I have been charging more than the Brits and less than the French which may leave me in a no-win zone.

Basically many Brits don't factor the investement costs into the business and so charge accordingly.

The skill of 'Gardening' is one of the few easily transferable skills you can bring to France and so it seems every gite owner jumps on the band wagon due to a loop hole in French law and offers gardening as a side line to 'Property management' which seems to involve every thing from turn arounds to renovation work.

So say you charge 20euros perhour....

You have to pay for all your business costs out of this then lose 48% to the state in social charges.

The result is you can easily end up with less then the SMIC per hour worked if you are not carefull.

I read an excellent book by 'Paul Power'  How to start a gardening business

Its available from Amazon. He quotes that there is always room for another gardener as there is always a cycle of people retiring or selling up.

 I believe he is right... to a point....

Any way, when you arrive here sign on as unemployed immediately. For after 6 months of registering every month you 'may' be eligable to claim for a partial exhonouration of your first years social charges. You can't get any dole money, thats not what I am saying, its just that there are incentives for getting people back into work.

Also, I invited an inspector from the M.S.A (the body to whoam I pay my social charges too)  to examine my business for viability.

 He informed me that I really needed to charge 26euros minimum and really should look at charging 30euros per hour.

 You see if you don't allow for costs you can charge really rather very little, the more and better your equipement then the more you have to charge to recuperate your investment.

I also got other Brit 'gardening services' to quote for work on on of my clients houses last year in order to find out how much they charged and what they knew about their work.

The result was a shock to me!

There is a couple near Loudeac who charge 10euros per hour but took 4hours per week.  Another 'Paysagiste' charges 15euros per hour and was two hours per week and every-one else was 20euros per hour...

My own work there takes me 1 hour 30min every two weeks on average...

Right now I have found work in a factory for the Winter and the security of a weeks pay is appealing...

 

Go to the C.C.I and study the figures of Maison secondaires and choose to live in an area rich in these.

[Phil.H]

Hi ,Thanks Ty. That was really interesting stuff,so ive taken the liberty to print off your advice and to digest the info.

It really does seem daunting so i may go down the road of trying to work as a Gardener for a company (council type ).Regular (ish) wages does seem more realistic. Thanks again for your time  Best Wishes          Phil  .

[Ty Korrigan]

The agency where I found my winter work has 'paysagiste' work available... its like labouring for the devil at times where they squeeze every last drop from you in all weathers...the boss of the agency tells me..

I had many days rained off last year and this can be expensive!

[zeb]

Phil -ask at your Mairie - there may be work available. I give a hand with pollarding here.

Otherwise, budget for taking most of January off - the weather is usually against you. With luck there is vine pruning (are there vinyards in Normandie?), tree felling and fencing work.

[Ty Korrigan]

On the negative side...

Actually I tried to forge several links with local treesurgeons here. I pass potential work on to them in exchange for working along side them on the ground.

So far I have wasted 3 days showing them potential clients and recieved nothing in return yet know that several jobs have gone on without me being invited along.

I had hopes of co-operation with others but this hasn't been very fruitfull so far.

My clients often ask me to do things out of remit and are suprised when I bill them for my time!

Here is a good one...

A client wanted a field cut...2 hectares. So I went to the local agricultural contractor and arranged such. The cost was 100euros and my part 50euros

Bloody client noted the number of the contractor and contacted them direct the next time and cut me out!

Another asked me to prepare on paper a detailed plan of work for the renovation of a driveway and grounds.

They then did it themselves using my home work as I had supplied the names of contractors and sources of chemicals, materials etc...

Prepare to be shafted by money strapped Brits and Yanks!

[zeb]

Yes, friend spent lots of time doing a garden/courtyard design including trellis, pergolas, hard landscaping etc, going backwards and forwards liaising with clients. Heard nothing for a few weeks.

My partner went there to quote for other work and noticed pergolas up and contractors finishing off. Design had been used and designer cut out and paid nothing!

I think, Ty that maybe you are expecting too much.